In 1903 the Hon. William
Frederick Danvers Smith (later Lord Hambledon) (1868-1928), a member of
the family firm W.H. Smith, purchased 12 acres of
land in Bessemer Road, Denmark Hill, and presented it to
King's College Hospital.
In 1904 an Act of Parliament was obtained to enable the Hospital
to relocate to south London from its then premises in Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields.

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by King Edward
VII in 1909 and, in the same year, King's College London (KCL)
was incorporated into the University of London, while the Hospital was
recognised as a separate legal entity. The King's College
Hospital Medical School was established; the Faculty of Medical Science
remained at KCL in the Strand for pre-clinical training, while the
Medical School provided clinical instruction.

In May 1912 an anonymous donor gave £50,000 to the rebuilding
project.

In July 1913 the Committee of Management held its last meeting in the
Portugal Street premises. This was followed by supper in Wigram
Ward for the staff, and former and current medical students of the
Hospital.

The new King's College Hospital with 600 beds was officially opened by
King George V and Queen Mary on 26th July, 1913. The firm W.H.
Smith had paid £1,000 towards the Hospital's relocation costs,
with the promise of another sum the following year.

The new Hospital was built in the pavilion style on a north-south axis,
with a central administrative block, which also included Matron's
department and the Nurses' Home. The six pavilion blocks, each
870 ft (265 metres) in length, were
arranged in parallels on the south side of a covered corridor (the
plan allowed for nine pavilions, funds permitting).
The main wards were each equipped with a kitchen and had a side
room
for patients needing special care. Westward of the central block
were special wards (some of which were circular), the Medical School
and the Pathology Department. There were also an isolation block,
a chapel and a mortuary.

There were four operating theatres, each of which had anaesthetic
and
recovery rooms, as well as a gallery from which medical students could
observe operations.

Eastward of the central block was a block containing the Out-Patients
and Casualty Departments.
The large Out-Patients
Department could seat 500 people and had a permanent
refreshment counter in the centre. As well as X-ray,
Dental, Massage and
Electrical Departments, there was a Bathing Department which provided
treatment by various medical baths. The Children's Department had
a separate entrance for patients with whooping cough.

The buildings incorporated many innovations, such as rounded wall,
ceiling and floor junctions to prevent dust from gathering in corners.
Power for lighting was supplied by diesel engines (which
continued in
use until 1955). There were also electric clocks. The
Hospital had a
Siemens-Edison telephone system, the second such internal telephone
installation in the United Kingdom.

Within a year, however, WW1 had broken out and a large part of the
Hospital was
requisitioned by the War Office for use as a military hospital - the
Fourth London General Hospital. Only four wards and the Casualty
Department remained available for civilian patients.

At first the Fourth London General Hospital contained a few cases of
injury and sickness among men in training at various military camps in
the country but, as the casualties from France grew, the military
hospital was extended into the nearby Ruskin Park. Huts and tents
were erected and a wooden bridge built across the railway line to
provide access.

In May 1915 Neurological Sections were established in all the
Territorial General Hospitals, the largest being that of the Fourth
London, which took over the recently built Maudsley
Hospital
nearby. The Section had 400 beds and received the majority of the
neurological cases sent from overseas, as well as patients transferred
from central and auxiliary hospitals in the London region and adjoining
counties.

By 1917 the Hospital had 369 beds for officers and 169 for enlisted
men, including 71 for ENT cases, 28 for skin disorders and 39 for eye
injuries. Sixty of the beds were reserved for 20 officers and 40
men receiving Carrel-Dakin
treatment (periodic flooding of their infected wounds with an
antiseptic solution). The Hospital had been extended into Ruskin
Park, where huts had been built to accommodate 656 patients.
Two
local schools had been requisitioned - the Grove
Lane Schools and the Venetian Road
Schools - and two
large mansions - The Platanes
and Osnabruck House. Montpelier
House in Ealing and Fairlawn in Forest
Hill served as
convalescent homes for the Hospital, as did many other auxiliary
hospitals.

The Hospital had its own monthly magazine, called The Fourth, which contained prose,
poetry and illustrations and cost 3d (just over 1p).

In 1919 the Hospital was demobilised and handed back for civilian use.

During the 1920s new departments were established in diabetes,
neurology and antenatal care. A Dental School and Hospital opened
in 1923. However, the Hospital's finances, like many other
voluntary hospitals, were fraught and, in 1931, several wards had to be
closed to save money.

In 1937 a private patients' wing - the Guthrie Wing - opened. It
had been paid for by a donation from the Stock Exchange Dramatic and
Operatic Society. The Wing had a separate Art Deco entrance, but
the wards were small.

During WW2 the Hospital became a casualty clearing station for air raid
victims. Once treated, patients were evacuated to Epsom or
Leatherhead. The operating theatres were relocated to the
basement, and patients in the higher wards were moved to the basement
during bombing raids. Amazingly, apart from incendiary bombs, the
Hospital was only hit once by a small bomb, although the local streets
were heavily bombed.

The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 as a teaching hospital group
managed by a Board of Governors. The Kings College Hospital Group
included the Royal Eye Hospital, the Belgrave Hospital for Children, the Belgrave
Recovery Home in Minstead, Hants, and the Baldwin Brown Recovery Home
in Camberley, Surrey. In 1966 the
Camberwell hospitals - St Giles' Hospital,
the Dulwich Hospital and St Francis Hospital - were added to the
Group. It was planned to consolidate all the Camberwell hospitals
onto the Denmark Hill site.

A new Dental School building was completed in 1965 and, in 1968, a new
maternity block (currently the Ruskin Wing).

In 1974, following another reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital
became
part of the King's Health District (Teaching). The Board of
Governors was disbanded and replaced by a District Management Team.

In 1979 the Rayne Institute opened to accommodate various medical
research departments of King's College
London.

Yet another NHS reorganisation in 1982 resulted in the King's Health
District (Teaching) becoming the Camberwell District Health Authority.
In 1983 the Medical School was reunited with King's College
London to form the King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The Wellcome Clinical Investigation Unit opened in 1990 and, in 1991,
an extension was added to the Dental School building, which also housed
the Day Surgery Centre. The Weston Education Centre for the
Medical School, with a library and lecture theatres opened in 1997.
The building also contained the Palliative Care and General
Practice Departments. A new Accident and Emergency Department
also opened in the same year, replacing the previous one which had
become too small for the number of patients being seen daily.

In 1993, after yet another NHS reorganisation, the newly-formed King's
Healthcare Trust took over management of the Hospital.

The Caldecot Centre for sexual health opened in 1994.

In 1998 King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry merged with the
United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals.
They are now collectively known as the Guy's,
King's and St
Thomas' School of Medicine (usually shortened to 'GKT').

In 2003 the Golden
Jubilee Wing
was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. It was built on the
site of the previous Out-Patients Department and contains clinics,
Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Departments, and therapy suites
for speech and language.

In May 2010 the Princess
Royal opened the Cicely Saunders Institute for palliative care.

The Hambledon
Wing,
the original part of the Hospital on Bessemer Road, opened in 1913
(left). It is
named after Lord Hambledon, who raised funds for the Hospital and
enabled its move from Lincoln's Inn Fields. The main entrance
(right).

Robert
Bentley Todd (1809-1860) was instrumental in establishing King's
College Hospital in Portugal Street.
Once the building for the original Medical School, the Bessemer
Wing is to the west of the Hambledon Wing.
The Guthrie
Wing, the private patients wing, built in 1937.

The back of the Dental Institute, as seen from Caldecot Road.The Ruskin
Wing opened in 1968 (left).
The tower block - the tallest on the campus - looms over the Guthrie
Clinic and the Denmark building (right).

The Normanby
Building is named after the 4th Marquess of Normanby (1912-1994),
who was
Chairman of the first Board of Governors, from 1948 until 1974.

The Rayne Institute, which opened in 1979.

The Arthur
Levin Building,
the Day Surgery Centre, is named after Dr Arthur Levin who pioneered
day surgery in England. He was involved in its planning during
the 1980s.

The back of the Arthur Levin building from Caldecot Road.
The Wellcome Clinical Investigation Unit (1990) at the end of the alley.
The main entrance to the Caldecot
Centre.

The Caldecot Centre at 15-22 Caldecot
Road.
The Weston Education Centre opened in 1997.

The Ambulance entrance (left) and the Accident and Emergency Department
are located in the Denmark
Wing, which also opened in 1997.The mirror-glass
southern elevation of the £60mGolden
Jubilee Wing, located in Bessemer Road.